Since I've been having a lot of ideas for oneshots lately, I've decided to put all future one-chapter entries into this collection. They won't flood my story section this way. The first of these is "Atmosphere".

Unlike my other two oneshots, this one functions sort of like a brief adventure tail (pun very much intended). Sorry Dspr, but this one doesn't use the exact same style as "Impact".

Atmosphere

The sun slowly rose over the horizon as its light was starting to reach a remote region. A subspecies of pikmin was beginning to stir at the top of a mountain. What are they known as? Silkmin, or Paraminicus fluto .

But these pikmin weren't heading to the lower valley to forage for food. All Silkmin are a silky white and have dandelion puffs instead of the usual leaves, buds or flowers. This species went airborne. Silkmin spend almost their entire lives floating in open air, landing only to reproduce or sleep. By the time the light of the morning had taken full affect, the first Silkmin had jumped into the air and floated off. Followed by another, and another, and yet another, until they were all airborne. They had been having sightings of a giant creature for the past few days, and now they seemed fixated on discovering what it was.

The Silkmin are part of an ecosystem. What kind of ecosystem? An ecosystem in the sky; inhabited by what are known as atmospheric beasts. These creatures ceaselessly float through the sky; most of them spending their entire life without landing. They are even born in the sky,

The Silkmin group would float around all day long. Since dandelion puffs aren't very good for photosynthesis, they regularly feed off the contents of Aerial Cephalossus eggs. The eggs are full of nutrition and contain lighter-than-air gasses, so they drift through the air like balloons. But egg eating is a riskier business than it is on land. While the Silkmin group had successfully found and were feeding off of vulnerable eggs, they were unaware that they were being watched by the learning species known as the Aerial Cephalossus (Architeuthis aeris). In a similar manner to the aquatic Hexapus, the Arial Cephalossus can figure out simple problems and situations. This one learned that the eggs of its species attract prey, so it follows batches of them from a distance.

Despite the fact that the Aerial Cephalossus is the size of a Bulborb (without the tentacles), it can be surprisingly stealthy. Though normally pearl white with blue highlights, they can alter their color to a completely pure white, making it resemble a cloud. The one that was stalking the group of Silkmin had already demonstrated this ability. Though it would be obvious from a side view that it isn't a cloud, this one was facing the Silkmin.

The Silkmin continued to suck the fluid from the gradually sinking, spherical eggs. They were soon dropping through the cloud barrier. And the Aerial Cephalossus continued to float in. Closer and closer. But by the time it was within striking range, some of the Silkmin had already finished. With their attention no longer on food, they took noticed of the incoming cloud that seemed to be turning... and forming tentacles.

Sensing the danger, the few Silkmin floated away at top speed. In response to this, the rest of them abandoned their food to escape. Realizing that it had to attack now, the Aerial Cephalossus lashed out its two longest tentacles. But it was already too late. The Silkmin had slipped away as the tentacles clasped nothing but air. Turning a shade of pink (frustration), the Cephalossus spread out its tentacles, and (in a swift motion) darted through and above the cloud barrier. The species owes its mastery of the air to its internal gasses and relatively light weight.

A few minutes had passed since the attack. The Silkmin (15) drifted around, trying to sight other means of feeding. But this was quickly interrupted by a massive shadow crossing their position. They looked off into the distance and saw a massive, long and steady figure in the distance. This was the creature they were trying to find, and they immediately set off to approach it.

The only obstacle they encountered along the way was a Greatest Spotted Jellyfloat (Cephalus bellulus) . Despite the fact that the golden beast managed to kill three of them, they remained fixated on the giant. And, with a few breezes and all, they caught up to it.

It was incredibly large; big enough to blanket the Wistful Wild (note that newly deceased atmospheric beasts are usually reduced to jelly before they make it to the ground). It was shaped like a large disc and had soft, gray skin. There was also a lump in the center, which may contain the animal's brain.

Floating on gas releases and light tissue, this was an Atmospheric Disc (Ignorabilis circumvolito abalieno).

The twelve Silkmin landed on the cushiony skin, and were immediately rewarded with an Aerial Cephalossus egg that had gotten stuck on the Disc's head, against the air currents.

The giant Disc is much older than most researchers think. The species has actually been around for many thousands of years. And almost nothing has changed about them, not even the lights they give off after dark. They've even been around since humans. Heck, many humans spotted them as they made the occasional drop below the cloud barrier. They then became a famous entity, known by almost everyone.

But the humans tended to call them "UFOs".

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